In The Outside World
by ShiraCirca
Summary: A collection of short chapters about Anthy and Utena's daily life. No overarching plot, just a lot of cute and silly fluff and hand-holding and kissing. Contains gratuitous amounts of Utena x Anthy. Revolutionary Girl Utena and all characters are (c) Kunihiko Ikuhara, Be-Papas, J.C. Staff, etc.
1. In the Morning Light

In The Morning Light

* * *

"Nnngh..." Anthy's opened her eyes slowly, blinking the sleep from her face as the world slowly came into focus. As she pushed herself up from her pillow, she felt a slight tug on her scalp she immediately fell back against the bed. Smiling softly, she ran her hands across the sheets beside her as they rose and sank, brushing them back and uncovering a tangle of pink and purple hair. Still asleep and breathing softly, Utena's arms were wrapped up in Anthy's hair, her skin ensnared by a sea of spiraling swirls. Sliding in closer, Anthy slipped her head down onto Utena's pillow and pressed her lips onto the base of Utena's neck.

"Hmmm..." Anthy hummed quietly to herself, "I suppose it can't be helped then." She pulled the sheets over her head and ran her hands gently across Utena's back, weaving her fingers into a frazzled mess of disheveled hair. Burying her head in the pillow, Anthy's thoughts began drifting away as the Utena's scent filled the air around her, beckoning her closer and lulling her back to sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, she squinted hard and tried to stay awake in spite of herself._ I... I have to stay awake... we both have to be at work in less than an hour..._Anthy repeated her obligations to herself even as she pulled herself closer and pressed her forehead against Utena's chest and her consciousness began to fade away. _I should... I should... wake her up and get ready..._Resisting sleep with all her strength, Anthy managed to force her eyes open but couldn't quite bring herself to move. As a broken beam of sunlight poured in through the window shade, Utena shifted her legs and grumbled, opening her eyes and looking down to find Anthy staring back up at her.

"Mmmm... Good Morning." Utena smiled wearily, the fog of sleep still lingering in the corners of her mind.

"Good Morning." Anthy smiled back, bringing her face closer and pausing as Utena brushed the corners of her eyes. Just scarcely keeping the sleep at bay herself, she brushed her hand across Anthy's waist and pulled her close for a slow, sweet kiss.

"What time is it?

"I wonder..." Anthy's eyelids fluttered for a moment before she shook her head out and pulled back the sheets and searched for their alarm clock. "Hm... it looks like we've overslept."

"Ah..." Utena pouted and flopped back against the bed. "At this rate I'll be late again..."

"Well then..." Anthy propped herself up on her elbows and folded her arms together. "We'll have to do something to save time. How about letting me wash your hair?"

Utena gave a quiet laugh and pushed herself up, stretching her arms out over hear head. "I'm not sure that'll actually save us time, but... I'll go get the water ready." Suddenly awake and full of energy, Utena turned and hopped onto the floor, stepping lightly up to the linen closet and pulling out a pair of towels. With her hair now freed, Anthy rolled onto her side and slowly coaxed herself out of bed as the heavy cadence of water falling against the shower floor. Stumbling onto the cold, tiled floor, Anthy shivered as she slipped off her pajamas and jumped into the shower behind Utena. Immediately the cold rushed away as steam surrounded them and a relaxing warmth splashed across their skin, the weight of the water settling in their hair as Anthy began working a handful of shampoo into Utena's scalp. Once she was done, Utena turned around and let the water rinse her hair out as she opened the bottle of shampoo... only to find that Anthy was still facing her with an inviting smile.

"You're going to make me wash your hair like this?" Utena gave a cheery, albeit slightly awkward smile. With her eyes closed, Anthy simply grinned and nodded.

"Yes, of course."

Utena blushed lightly and poured a generous glob of shampoo into her hands, folding it into Anthy's hair as she leaned against her. "You know, it's a lot harder to wash when we're like this..."

Anthy simply looked up and smiled. "Is it?"

"Well, I guess it isn't really, but..."

"Ah, Utena, we have to hurry..." Anthy pulled herself closer and reached around Utena's back, grabbing a sponge and some soap and sliding them across Utena's back. "I'll wash your back while you're doing that.

"W-wait," Utena reached up and held the curtain rod, her balance wavering as soap and shampoo coated the floor beneath her feet. "It's getting too slippe- Ah!" Losing her already tenuous attachment to the ground, she stumbled forward, falling into Anthy and tumbling toward the wall. Just before they both fell, she reached and wrapped one arm around Anthy's back and held herself up on a safety bar. Staring at one another wide-eyed and in shock, they slowly worked their way back up to their feet before giggling softly.

"We might need to take it a bit slower than that, at least while the floor's still covered in soap." Utena knelt down and retrieve the sponge from where it fell and began scrubbing Anthy's back.

"Well, it was worth a try." Anthy grinned and closed her eyes as she faced the wall and warm water trickled through her hair.

After getting out of the shower, brushing their teeth, dressing themselves and gathering their things, there were only ten minutes left for breakfast and tea. As Anthy poured the contents of a steaming kettle into a small teapot, Utena dropped two slices of bread into a toaster and rifled through the refrigerator for a jar of jam and a stick of butter. In a few minutes, they would be swallowing their breakfast as quickly as they could before rushing outside and off into opposite directions. In just a few minutes, they would be over a dozen miles apart for at least eight hours and, owing to Anthy's broken cell phone, almost completely out of contact. With this in mind, while she waited for the toast to pop up and the tea to cool, Utena hurried around the counter and wrapped her arms around Anthy's waist, pulling her close and kissing the top of her ear. It was always in this moment, every day just before they parted ways, that she desperately wanted to convey the gnawing sense of loneliness that she would be feeling in a few hours or the excitement she'd have as she stepped back through their front door and finally returned home... No matter how many times she tried though, she couldn't quite grasp the form of the feelings in this moment. Instead, all she could do was tighten her grip as Anthy slid her own hands over Utena's, lacing their fingers together as their hearts beat in time.

"Good luck... at work today." Utena spoke softly as she mumbled into Anthy's hair, their hands sliding further around Anthy's waist just as the toast popped up and the minute hand of the clock marched on. Closing her eyes, Anthy turned her head and pressed Utena's lips against her own.

"Utena... take care of yourself today."

"Mm." Utena nodded, smiling slightly. "I'll try not to get anymore cuts and bruises today... Ah, Himemiya..." She took only two steps back toward the toaster before turning back, her hand still shrouded in Anthy's warmth. "Do you want to go out somewhere tonight? Like, to dinner, or the movies, or just walking around or something like that...?"

Pleasantly surprised, Anthy's eyes perked up as she took a sip of tea and a bright smile spread across her face. Although she wasn't looking forward to getting in trouble for coming in late, she was suddenly more than willing to endure the next eight hours. "Yes, let's do that."


	2. In the Evening Glow

In the Evening Glow

* * *

"Well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind..." Utena folded her arms behind her head and glanced around the bustling room. When she had asked Anthy out for a romantic dinner date that morning, she hadn't really considered the possibility that every fine dining restaurant in town would be completely full for the evening. Once they were both free from their obligations and met in the midst of the sparkling downtown twilight, however, that was the exact reality they found facing them. After almost an hour of walking through the fading sunset and finding nothing but lines stretching out of diners and onto the sidewalk, they wearily resigned themselves to an upscale, though impossibly loud local tavern. While it did have a good reputation for serving excellent food, the fact that they had to wait at the bar beneath a cloud of smoke and raucous laughter didn't sit well with either of them.

"Maybe we should take our food and eat somewhere else then?" Anthy squinted as a puff of cigar smoke stung her eyes, wafting it away from her face as Utena nodded and looked toward the kitchen.

"Yeah, I won't have much of an appetite if we stay here... I'll go find the waiter and get him to bring us the bill and tell the kitchen to box up our order." Sliding off of her barstool, Utena pushed her way through the crowds gathered around the bar and narrowly avoided no fewer than three puddles of beer on the floor. While Utena hurried off toward the kitchen, Anthy folded her hands together and tried to focus on the endless shelves of colorful liqueurs lined up behind the bar as she tried to ignore the din of the mob behind her. Even now, places like this made her nervous... not only was everyone around her beginning to blend together and wear the same face, but their voices were starting to sound the same as well. Those at the bar, those at their tables, and over a dozen more people standing around all focused their attention on the giant television set into the far wall and shouting curses and cheers toward it. As Anthy cut open a dinner roll and dipped her knife into a cup of butter, a coarse, grating voice drifted across her ears.

"Hey, you look lonely... need somebody to keep you company?" A haggard man climbed onto the stool next to Anthy, setting his beer down on the bar and turning aside to face her. Smiling politely, Anthy glanced aside at him dismissively.

"Oh, there's no need for that... I'm here with someone already."

"Heh, listen now..." The man took a sip from his bottle and wiped his scruffy face with his sleeve, the scent of alcohol pouring from his mouth as he spoke. "I seen you come in with another lady, and I ain't talkin about just friendly company now."

"Oh, I see." Anthy closed her eyes as she buttered her bread, her lips slowly spreading into a calm, eerily sinister smile. "I wasn't either."

Stunned for just a moment, the haggard man blinked and pulled back before bursting into a fit of crass laughter. "Oh, gotcha, I see, so you two are into that sorta thing. Alright, fine..." he reached into his coat and pulled out a small card, sliding it across the bar and leaving it in front of Anthy. "You ever get tired of playin' around like that, gimme a call." As he tilted back his bottle, Anthy's hands froze and she gently set her bread down onto her plate.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you're talking about." Anthy's smile turned sharp and stinging even as she kept her voice gentle and innocent. Still polishing off the last of his drink, the haggard man missed every indication of her growing impatience.

"Well, it's like this..." He slapped his free hand onto his knee and leaned forward. "See, I'm not the sort to judge anybody. You wanna pick that lifestyle, go right ahead an do it, but there's certain realities you gotta face one a' these days. You're probly havin' fun right now, but one day you wake up an you realize there's somethin' you can't get from another woman. I mean, tha's why there's two sexes in the first place, right?"

"Ah, I see." Anthy kept smiling, her head tilted slightly as she tightened her grip around the long, serrated bread knife on her plate. "Well, in that case, maybe you could just give that 'something' to me right now, so that I can hold onto it in case I ever feel like I need it."

"Eh? You mean, like..." The man's eyes went wide and he glanced around, "Like, right here, right now?"

Anthy nodded. "Yes. I'm sure it won't take more than a second..." With a single stroke, she pulled her knife through the pickle on her plate, cutting off the tip and letting it roll onto the floor. As the haggard man watched in horror, Anthy turned to him, still smiling as she wiped her knife clean and rested it across her lap.

"G-goddamn, forget I asked." In the very next instant, the haggard man grabbed his card back and stumbled away from the bar, snatching up his beer as he disappeared into the crowd, glancing back frightfully at Anthy's cheery smile and her gleaming knife. Just as Anthy turned back toward the bar, Utena finally worked her way through the bustling mob and returned to her seat with a pair of takeout boxes in her hands.

"Sorry it took so long..." Utena sighed heavily, exhausted from her trek of a mere thirteen yards. "I saw that guy leaving the bar... was he bothering you?"

"Oh no, of course not." Anthy returned the knife to her plate and took a bite out of her bread. "He was just a salesman."

Utena stared at her skeptically. "A salesman?"

"Yes, a salesman." Anthy happily polished off the last of her bread before sliding off of her barstool and joining Utena. "Someone trying to convince me to buy something I didn't need."

"H-Himemiya..." Utena smiled awkwardly, well aware of Anthy's methods of repelling unwanted attention. "You didn't threaten anyone, did you?"

"Of course not," Anthy gave an innocuous smile and took Utena's hand as they headed out into the quiet night. "Threatening someone would be against the law."

As they stepped out of the tavern and back onto the street, Utena chuckled softly and squeezed Anthy's hand for just a moment. "I guess it would be, wouldn't it?" As the door closed behind them, Utena smiled and turned aside, her eyes overflowing with a warm fondness as Anthy met her gaze. "Sorry... if I'd remembered to make reservations this morning, we wouldn't have had to go to a place like that."

"No, it's alright..." Anthy's eyes softened and she leaned in closer as they rounded a corner and headed toward a nearby park. "The food smells good, and it's warm out tonight... besides, a bother like that doesn't really matter enough to worry over."

"Yeah, you're right..." Utena's mind drifted off and she drew Anthy closer as they passed through the flowering arches of the local park and headed down the lantern-lined path to its center. Passing through the light and shadows, the faint glimmer of fireflies rose around them and Utena suddenly stopped.

"Ah, what about right here?" A small bench rested beneath a short lamppost, pointing out toward the park's central square. Nodding in agreement, the two settled in beside one another and made short work of their meal.

"Hmm, that looks tasty" Utena leaned in toward Anthy and hovered her fork over a pile of shrimp and pasta. "Can I try some?"

With a soft smile on her lips, Anthy slid her hand down and held Utena's wrist, guiding her fork into the pasta and then raising it up to her own mouth to take a bite. After Anthy slurped up an errant strand of fettuccine, she released Utena's hand and tilted her head slightly. "Yes, go right ahead."

Blushing lightly, Utena grinned slightly and leaning in quickly, giving Anthy a quick kiss on the corner of her lips. "You had some sauce on your mouth."

"Did I?" Anthy smiled back, touching her cheek softly and savoring the lingering warmth on her lips.

"Of course, why would I lie about something like that?"

Anthy slid her fingers over Utena's palm and traced the outline of her hand. "I wonder..."

As they bound their hands together, a fit of nervous laughter echoed through the air from just a few dozen yards away. In the midst of the park's central square, an anxious, stumbling man walked along with a woman just a few years older than himself, tripping just as they reached the middle of the square. As Utena and Anthy watched from their bench, the man fumbled through his pockets, pulled out a small box and then nearly fell on his face as he brought himself down onto one knee. Overcome with both laughter and tears, the older woman steadied her companion and kept him from toppling over onto his side and nodded in between gasps and sobs. Jumping up and nearly falling over, the man wrapped his arms around her and they hurried off into the night, crying and laughing together all the way to the park's exit. As their silhouette's faded into the shadows, Anthy's lips worked their way into a warm smile.

"I think we've just seen something adorable."

Utena laughed lightly. "Yeah, we did..." Though she responded quickly, her thoughts were elsewhere, wondering just how nervous someone would be if they were planning to go down on one knee in front of the girl they loved... As she raised her eyes toward the night sky, her voice began to quiver and her heart began to race away from her. "Hey, Himemiya... Do you... Would you want to... to get..." As the next few words darted across her mind, Utena's voice caught in her throat and her tongue froze. _Ah, damn it, why am I getting so nervous about this? We've been together forever, so it's not like it's something we've never talked about before, it's not like- _

"Hm?" Anthy hummed softly and rested her head on Utena's shoulder, letting her hair spill across Utena's arm and cover their hands in a sea of purple swirls. "What's the matter?"

"I-I just..." Utena breathed in sharply, her cheeks flushed and her head swimming in Anthy's soothing warmth. Clenching her open hand, she steeled herself and looked Anthy straight in the eye. "Himemiya... do you... want to get married?"

Her words poured out through the air, drifting on the breeze as softly as foam on the sea and settling down around Anthy's ears. The moment she realized just what Utena was asking, her eyes went wide and her face turned red. Dropping the rest of her dinner to the ground, she reached over and wrapped both her arms around Utena's neck and buried her face into her shoulder. As a swarm of fireflies flickered in the air around them, Anthy whispered a single, quiet syllable into the night.

"...Yes." She looked up, her eyes bright and shining as she raised her lips and drawing close as Utena slid her hand behind Anthy's shoulders. Hidden in the soft shadows of a midsummer evening, they shared a kiss beneath the glow of a thousand fireflies.

Still blushing as she pulled away, Utena's eyes fell and she brushed the hair from Anthy's face. "I'm sorry... I always imagined this happening in a nicer place... you know, after a huge dinner at a much nicer restaurant and then we would dance and-"

Anthy placed a finger over Utena's lips, an ecstatic smile on her face as she snuggled up against her. "It's alright... This is all I really need."

"Ah-" Utena opened her mouth but the overwhelming depth of satisfaction welling up in Anthy's eyes stole her words before she could speak. Resigning herself to silence, she reached over and rested her head atop Anthy's, lacing her fingers through her hair as the world fell away, leaving just the two of them on a small park bench on a warm summer's night. Giggling mischievously, Anthy's eyes fluttered and she turned to face her fiancée.

"Ah, Utena... you have some sauce on the side of your neck..."

"Really?" Utena closed her eyes and stroked Anthy's hair. "We'll have to take care of that when we get home then."

"Yes, we will."


End file.
